Guardians of the Galaxy

Marvel‘s plans post-“Avengers: Infinity War” and its untitled 2019 sequel are pretty hush-hush at this point. There’s three dates set for 2020, but what those films aren’t hasn’t been, up until now, revealed. Marvel …

It’s the last full week in August, but just before Summer Madness segues into Fall Folly, we thought we’d have a go investigating a claim we’ve been hearing asserted with some frequency: that Summer 2017 is one of the best blockbuster seasons in recent memory. We decided to pit it against the 17 other summer seasons this century (yes, pedants, we count the year 2000) to see how it stacks up.
Of course, the several-billion dollar questions are: how do we define “Summer Season” and how to we define the kind of films we want to focus on?
Continue reading The Best Blockbuster Summers Of the Century So Far at The Playlist.

In the distant world of about 36 months ago, when the world was still marginally more sane and not on fire all the time, “Guardians Of The Galaxy” was not a franchise whose second entry was about to make an enormous amount of money. It was a Marvel gamble that was known, almost exclusively, among the general public as ‘oh, the raccoon and tree movie?’ But part of the brilliance of Gunn’s original was the way that he took the two strangest character in Marvel history — murderous space-rodent Rocket and upbeat plant-creature Groot — and made them highlights of the movie.
Continue reading Vin Diesel Says That James Gunn Wants A ‘Rocket & Groot’ Spin-Off at The Playlist.

How many times have you read that it’s really hard to duplicate the success of the first film in a sequel? Probably more than you can remember. Well, here’s a newsflash: “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2” pulls that feat off with only a little strain and a belly of genuine emotion.
Marvel Studios’ space faring superhero-team-that-isn’t-really-a-superhero-team came together in 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.” James Gunn, along with a screenplay assist from Nicole Sperling, wonderfully demonstrated how a band of characters that were barely known beyond hardcore comic book fans could transform into a band of charismatic and colorful characters that felt strikingly original.
Continue reading ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ Is A Worthy, Surprisingly Emotional Follow-Up To A Superhero Classic [Review] at The Playlist.

If you liked the trailer for “Thor: Ragnarok,” odds are you have James Gunn to thank. The director’s idiosyncratic vision for the Marvel universe helped nudge the studio into new and more interesting directions, with oddball humor and over-the-top imagery sliding in nicely alongside the franchise’s action sequences and slick production. And fans who worried that Gunn had not officially committed to a third ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘ movie can rest easy: the director announced via Facebook this afternoon, in his typically humorous and insightful manner, that he had closed the deal to join our lovable space a-holes for one more journey.
Continue reading James Gunn Announces He’s Returning For ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3’ at The Playlist.